The present invention relates to an instrument panel support structure of a vehicle, and in particular, relates to an instrument panel support structure of a vehicle which is equipped with restriction portions to respectively restrict a move, in a vertical direction, of a front-side portion of an instrument panel.
Conventionally, an instrument panel of a vehicle is comprised of a large-sized synthetic-resin article which extends over a whole width of a vehicle compartment, and an air-conditioning unit, an audio unit, plural ducts and others are provided inside this instrument panel. The instrument panel is assembled in a separate assembly line which is different from a vehicle assembling line. In a later step after frames of a vehicle body are assembled, this assembled instrument panel is carried into the vehicle compartment through an ingress-and-egress opening where side doors are attached, then moved forward, and fixed to a particular bracket which is provided at a cowl panel supporting a lower edge portion of a windshield (front window). Thus, the instrument panel is assembled to the vehicle body.
Since the synthetic-resin made instrument panel is provided in an engine room via a dash panel and some electric-component units are stored inside the instrument panel, the instrument panel tends to receive the heat influence from inside or outside thereof. Further, the instrument panel has a shape in which the length, in a vehicle width direction, thereof is relatively long, so that a portion of the instrument panel may warp (curve) vertically in the vehicle width direction. Accordingly, some technologies as countermeasures against this improper warp of the instrument panel which may be caused by this thermal expansion have been proposed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-208574 discloses an instrument panel attachment structure which comprises a synthetic-resin made instrument panel, an air box (cowl box) having a closed cross section which extends in a vehicle width direction and is formed by a box-forming portion and a box-forming panel (cowl panel) which extend upward from a dash upper panel, and a projection portion extending rearward from a rear face wall of the air box and a positioning pin, wherein an engagement projection contacting a lower face of the projection portion and a locate bracket into which the positioning pin can be inserted are formed integrally with a front-side portion of the instrument panel. According to the above-described instrument panel attachment structure, the above-described warp in the vehicle width direction of the instrument panel can be prevented properly, without providing any particular bracket for attaching the instrument panel.
The cowl panel supporting a lower edge portion of the windshield constitutes, together with the dash upper panel (may be called as “cowl member”), the cowl box which has a corner portion and extends in the vehicle width direction. This cowl box is required to have an impact-absorption function that the rigidity of a front portion of a vehicle body can be ensured, while the impact acting on a pedestrian falling down onto a bonnet (engine hood) in a vehicle's collision against the pedestrian can be reduced. Therefore, some pedestrian protection structure, in which the cowl box is movable rearward and upward relative to the vehicle body when the impact load acts on the cowl box from the vehicle front, has been proposed in order to increase the impact-absorption performance for the pedestrian.
There has been recently a tendency that a slant angle of the windshield is designed to be large (great) to improve the aerodynamics or designing of the vehicle. Such a vehicle with the large (great) slant angle of the windshield has a concern that a gap between the windshield and the cowl panel is so narrow that it may be difficult to ensure a working space for attaching the instrument panel properly. In particular, in an instrument panel support structure in which the instrument panel is kept at a high level and carried forward, then lowered to the particular bracket provided at the cowl panel, and finally assembled to the vehicle body, there is a concern that the attaching works may deteriorate improperly. Further, it may be required to make the gap between the windshield and the cowl panel narrower in order to ensure the impact-absorption function of the cowl panel from a pedestrian-protection perspective. In this case, the similar concern described above may occur.
Since the engagement projection contacting the lower face of the projection portion and the locate bracket into which the positioning pin can be inserted are formed integrally with the front-side portion of the instrument panel in the instrument panel attachment structure disclosed in the above-described patent publication, the engagement projection and the locate bracket are engaged with the projection portion provided at the cowl panel and the positioning pin when the instrument panel is assembled to the vehicle body. However, according to the above-described instrument panel attachment structure, the cowl box is not movable rearward and upward relative to the vehicle body in the collision of the vehicle against the pedestrian, so that there is a concern that the impact acting on the pedestrian may not be reduced properly.